What’s for supper? Vol. 106: Ermerghersh, it’s turmeric!

Read on, if you dare.

SATURDAYCheeseburgers, chips

I have no memory of Saturday. This week was littered with migraines, and I spent a lot of time hiding in bed and then frantically rushing around to get caught up in between. The good news is, Corrie is starting to emerge from a long, long spell of constant tantrums. I feel like the goblins have brought my real child back. She still insists on being called “Dashi,” but I can live with that.

SUNDAYCumin chicken and chickpeas with yogurt sauce; pomegranates and pita

Excellent new recipe from the NYT. I made the yogurt sauce and set the chicken (I used all thighs) to marinate the previous night. Then it was very quick the next evening to throw it in some pans with the chickpeas. While it was cooking, I made some yogurt sauce for dipping and some lemony onions for garnish, plus some chopped cilantro. If you love the shawarma I’m always pushing, you’ll almost certainly love this meal.

Something wonderful happened to the chicken skin, I suppose because of the yogurt marinade. It was crisp and flavorful, but also took on a kind of — I’m trying to figure out how to describe this without making it sound gross — a kind of robust chewiness.

I made two pans, but I foolishly only let one pan roast long enough so the onions and chickpeas were toasty-crunchy. I need a better light in the kitchen, because this really doesn’t capture the golden pan of wonder I pulled out of the oven. This pan is the somewhat-undertoasted one:

Pomegranates were 99 cents, so I bought four and quartered them. Perfect accompaniment for this meal. This is definitely going into the rotation. Damien was skeptical about the chickpeas, but he heartily endorses this dish now. It was quite cheap, too. I think the most expensive component was the pita bread.

And now I must tell you. When I made this recipe for the first time, at the age of 42, I discovered that it is spelled “turmeric,” not “tumeric.” Ain’t that a pisser? But apparently nobody says the first “r,” so it’s pretty much now just tumeric, because who cares? I’m so torn. I’m generally in favor of not letting sloppiness win the day and shape our ends, but on the other hand, I’m too old to start knowing it’s turrrrrmeric. I really am. Also, I didn’t have any. So I went and just put a little extra cumin.

Guess friggin’ what? Cumin is sometimes known as “cucumin.” And for this reason, I give up. It warr good chicken.

Oh, while we’re on the topic, roasted chickpeas makes a great snack with plenty of protein. You drain the chick peas, toss them with a little olive oil, spread them in a single layer in a shallow pan, and sprinkle them with whatever seasonings you like. Roast them in a 450 oven for forty minutes or more. Be patient. You want them really crunchy, not just browned. (Chickpeas, like peanuts, are legumes, and may or may not be safe for kids with peanut allergies; so if you’re looking for a safe snack to send into school, this is something to check.)

***

MONDAYNachos

Tortilla chips, ground beef with taco seasonings from an envelope, shredded cheese, jalapeños, jarred salsa, and sour cream that I jealously guarded from working its way to the back of the fridge to be frozen. And that has made all the difference.

***

TUESDAYScrambled eggs, salad, oven roasted potatoes, leftovers

It was going to be sausage omelettes, but there was so much food in the house, we just heated up everything and made a bunch of scrambled eggs and potatoes.

You fry up the chop meat with some garlic, drain the fat, and throw in a bunch of ingredients, and that’s it! You can just eat it! The kids like it because it’s sweet. You can vary how much ginger and pepper flakes you put it, to make it even more kid-friendly or kid-hostile. (I used a few squeezes of squeeze ginger because I am a dirty, dirty, lazy cheater cook. Squeezy!)

I set out scallions and sesame seeds on the table. Then, like a damn rookie, I sat down in the next room to enjoy my meal, and Corrie proceeded to silently decorate the entire bottom floor with the rest of the sesame seeds. Looks like we finally got our first snowfall of the season.

***

FRIDAYPasta

The kids have the day off, so I’m headed up north to visit my mother in the nursing home. I was supposed to wake up early to go running. That . . . did not happen.

Oh, I also did a practice run of apricot walnut rugelach this week. Do you want to know how to make rugelach? They are little rolled Jewish pastries. The dough is made mostly of cream cheese, and you roll it out on a sugared surface, rather than a floured surface. You want to know, right?

only one push, with two nurses who had never had an unmedicated mom and also had never caught before and didn’t want to… but it was their own fault they even needed to because they didn’t believe my husband when he told them we had 10 min, tops, to get the OB there

lol! And amen to the abs.
Winton Charles arrived just fine; only one push, with two nurses who had never had an unmedicated mom and also had never caught before and didn’t want to… but it was their own fault they even needed to because they didn’t believe my husband when he told them we had 10 min, tops, to get the OB there. 🙂

I don’t so much want to know how to make rugelach as have someone make it for me. Preferably Bev Shor, who was my co-worker’s mother and used to sometimes send in almond rugelach for me, because she felt sorry for the poor Catholic girl who had never had rugelach until blessed by Bev Shor’s rugelach. Man, that was good.

I’m not a baker, so the odds of me making it myself are pretty much nil. It’s best that way. I can’t be trusted around baked goods, anyway. Good thing I don’t work with Bev’s daughter anymore.

“I can’t be trusted around baked goods”
Same. Exaaaaaaaactly why I avoid baking as much as I can. I’ll just eat it.

The other day I was bragging to my daughter about how I’d finally kicked my sugar habit. I said, “remember how we never had desserts in the house when you were in middle school?” She snapped back huffily saying,
“and do you remember how thin I became?”
Zero gratitude.

Yarr. This week was a week. We finally got an offer on our house we’ve been working to sell–it’s been on the market since June–and my husband had to work like a dog to make sure it was really ready for the inspection on Thursday. So. He had some late nights, early mornings, but it seems having a home cooked meal every night really boosted morale. So I felt useful.

Monday: Breaded baked chicken (just mixed GF breadcrumbs with some seasonings, dredged in egg white and then the crumbs, and baked), mashed potatoes, corn, applesauce. Gravy. When I had it on the table I was dismayed at how monochromatic it all was, but honestly, it was all foods everybody likes, so I guess I have a beige family. My husband came home late and devoured his plate and said it was wonderful.

Tuesday: Oldest is out on Tuesday evenings, so we generally do grilled cheese or leftovers. I made my husband creamy tomato soup and a grilled turkey and swiss sandwich, and he came home late and devoured it and said it was wonderful.

Look at me, typing with two hands instead of one with newborn in the other. I forgot that being this overdue pretty much ices the kicker and instead of feeling hopeful that this kid will arrive someday, I am just remembering nothing but “wait, this hurts, I don’t wanna anymore.”
Sat: chicken and biscuit casserole from Tasty Kitchen. Something everyone likes, miracle. I don’t use the canned chicken soup (usually) and just make some white sauce instead; I make a bit less sauce than it calls for which makes my crew happier for some reason.
Sun: went to brother and sil’s house for fun and lasagna and taco salad.
Mon: potato soup with bacon, orange-nutmeg muffins. Nearly everyone liked this too and I like it because my talented husband cans potatoes and so it takes me about five minutes to put this soup together since he already did all the peeling and cubing work.
Tues: basil chicken with honey-garlic pasta. Another hit. My weekly average is never this good.
Wed: well, I was going to make a roast, but I forgot to get it out in time, so the kids ate leftovers and husband and I had a date with take-out Pepperjax after everyone was in bed.
Thurs: sweet and sour beef (but with venison) with noodles, oven-roasted broccoli. I usually don’t have yeast troubles, but I managed to ruin the two loaves of Sally Lunn bread I tried to make. 🙁
Fri: homemade mac and cheese unless I can find some way to induce labor before I have to make dinner.

Hahahahaha . I’m so sorry. That’s hard! But exciting too! I could just swear sometimes that a touch of post partum blues comes from all of the excitement of living on the edge of suspense for so long. But just think–your body is changing all the diapers right now, and keeping your little VIP very, quiet! 🙂